I watched the game at home with my family this year. To accompany this great win I prepared a special Mexican style dinner. I made amazing grilled chicken wraps and Mexican salads!

Grilled chicken wraps were always just grilled chicken slices in a piece of thin bread. THEN Jeff’s changed it all for me. I was in California one winter and a friend took me to JEFF’s in Pico, LA. I had the most amazing dish… a grilled chicken wrap. The chicken was perfect… not under-cooked or too dry, it had some fresh veggies and was perfectly coated in a delicious mayo/bbq sauce. Anyway, one bite in and I knew I had to try to make this on my own. I will admit that I was not able to replicate the exact flavor…. but that extra something I cannot recreate I contribute to the company I was with and the vacation atmosphere … but my recipe does come pretty close.

In this post, I am going to share with you my favorite recipe for the grilled chicken wraps I made tonight! I am not going to give you exact amounts for each ingredient because it really depends on how many wraps you want to make, so that I will leave up to you.

Hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients:

Large Wraps (I used Whole Wheat)

Thin sliced chicken breast

Spicy BBQ Sauce

Low Fat Mayonnaise

Spicy Mustard and Ketchup

Chopped Romaine Lettuce

Black beans

Corn

Avocado- small dice

Red Bell Pepper – strips about 2 inches

Tomatoes- medium dice

Cucumbers- medium dice

Sweet Onion- Small dice

Pickles- small dice

Preparation:

Brush chicken breast slices with BBQ sauce, place in the refrigerator and let it marinate until you are ready to grill them.

Wash, cut and place all veggies, corn, black beans and chopped lettuce in a large bowl.

Cut the avocado into small pieces and put some lemon on it to avoid it turning a brown color. Then add it into the veggie bowl.

Mix in some low fat mayo and mix well until veggies are evenly coated.

Grill the chicken until the slices are cooked through and chicken is not pink anymore.

Cut the chicken into thin slices and set aside.

With tongs or large spoons place a good amount of the salad mixture in the middle of the large wrap and add chicken slices. Fold each end and then roll. I suggest you wrap it with aluminum foil and then slice into two halves.

These wraps are best when served fresh. Serve with ketchup and mustard so each person can add those to taste. And for those of you who drink… I suggest having this with your favorite beer.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“Super Bowl fans spend more than 50 million dollars on food during the four days prior to the Super Bowl.”

Tuna salad is perfect for wraps or sandwiches, as a side or to eat with crackers. It can be a very filling meal but actually requires no cooking time. Personally, I think since Tuna is healthy it’s a waste to make it into a salad filled with unnecessary additional calories.

For that reason, I use low-fat mayonnaise which is much healthier and lower in calories than regular mayo but still tastes delicious. By using low-fat mayo the recipe still keeps the delicious texture and taste tuna salad should have.

Everyone has their favorite Tuna Salad recipe. There are endless recipes to be found online. This is my recipe and it very quick and easy to make. It really tastes great every time!

Ingredients:

4 small cans of tuna in water

3 tablespoons low fat mayonnaise

1 can of corn

2 carrots- small dice

2 celery stalks- small dice

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Combine cut carrots, celery and corn in a large bowl

Open the four cans of tuna and spill out the water and put in another bowl

With a fork mash up the tuna and then add it to veggie bowl

Add mayo and mix to evenly coat

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Tuna Wraps

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know its tuna, but it says “Chicken of the Sea”

So Thanksgiving, the Holidays and New Years is officially over which to me always marks the beginning of the cold New York Winter. This is the time we practically all hibernate and spend a lot of time inside. I know that sounds depressing but this also gives us more time to make home-made hot meals and spend time indoors with family and friends.

This Butternut Squash Soup recipe is one of my favorite family recipes. It not difficult or extremely fancy but it’s a delicious thick soup without all that heavy cream or unnecessary calories.

A couple of people have asked me to put this recipe up on my blog; so here it is:

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of Osem Consommé’

1 medium sized Butternut squash – peeled and cut into large cubes

1 leek sliced

1 clove garlic- minced

1 onion- large dice

1 tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Sautee onion and garlic in two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot

2. Add leek and butternut squash to the pot

3. Add water just enough to cover all vegetables in pot

4. Let it come to a boil

5. Add soup consommé’ and cover pot

6. Reduce fire to simmer and let cook for about 45minutes

7. Turn off fire and with an immersion blender carefully puree contents in pot

8. Season with salt and pepper

9. Turn fire back to low and cook for about 10 minutes and then serve hot

** If you have never worked with Butternut Squash you might find it a bit tricky to peel and cut … so CLICK HERE to watch a short YouTube Video that will give you a few tips.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics; and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor”

So I’ll be honest with you guys and tell you I’m not much of a Deli Meat fan but I actually really like this Deli Roll. I read several recipes and customized the recipe to my taste and the preference of the guests I was catering to. This recipe I have here is most similar to Jamie Geller’s Recipe which can be found on JOY OF KOSHER WEBSITE.

Here is the link to Jamie Geller’s Recipe and you can watch a video of her making it so it can really help you to visualize it all: LINK AND VIDEO .

Except for the fact that this is a delicious recipe, I love it because it is so simple to make and looks great. It happens to be a good dish to make when you are serving guys. It’s one of those dishes often served at the Friday night dinner in many Jewish homes.

I absolutely love granola but the commercial granola is always filled with calories, fat and sugar. Making homemade granola may sound like a challenge but it’s actually pretty simple and tastes delicious. Last week I made 4 batches of granola and packaged it to give out to my family and friends. I sometimes package granola is small bags and they make very cute gifts.

I often experiment with different add-ins and different recipes. Granola can be a healthy snack, a perfect salad topping or my favorite is to eat it for breakfast in my yogurt parfait. If you like it sweet and sticky just add a bit more honey and add dried fruit bits after the granola cools. Or you can put less honey/sugar mixture and omit the dried fruit add-ins to limit the sweetness. The best part about homemade granola is that you make it to your personal taste and you can always substitute parts of the recipe for whatever you have in your kitchen.

Here’s my recipe that I tried at least 10 times and absolutely love- I like it sweet and crunchy! Every time I make a batch it somehow disappears the first day!

A few years ago I went through a “love for almonds” phase… then I tasted glazed almonds… and let’s just say I thought they were delicious. Ok I admit that I may have overdone it but in moderation nuts are extremely healthy for you as well as tasty.

Candied nuts are great as a sweet and crunchy snack or even on top of a salad. They are so easy to make at home and they taste amazing.

I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks which is by far one of my best purchases: Kosher By Design: Short on Time By Susie Fishbein.

Here is a link to this book so you won’t get confused because she has several different ones:

Squash is now in season and Thanksgiving is coming up. What better way to prepare than by making a pumpkin pie?

I will be honest with you guys … until last year I have never tasted pumpkin so this year I decided to experiment and try different recipes that call for pumpkin. I came to the conclusion that even though my Vegetable Curry came out delicious, I personally prefer eating pumpkin in my sweet desserts.

I subscribed to several food magazines and online websites and have been overwhelmed with the many pumpkin recipes I have seen. I read a bunch of pie recipes and although they are all very similar they often each have a unique twist.

I made one big pie and then several mini ones. Most recipes call for the flaky dough but I wanted to try it with graham cracker crust and see how it would come out. I had several of my friends taste it and they gave my recipe “two thumbs up”.

So here goes:

Ingredients:

1 large and 5 mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts

One 15oz can of Pumpkin

One 12oz can of Evaporated milk

2 Eggs lightly beaten

3/4 cup Sugar

2 tsp Cornstarch

1 tsp Cinnamon

¼ tsp Nutmeg

¼ tsp Salt

2 drops Vanilla Extract

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small bowl combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch.

Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl add the vanilla extract.

Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.

Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

Pour into pie crusts and carefully put them in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Once the crust begins to brown cover the edges so they won’t burn then continue to bake. Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let the pies cool and then serve alone or with whip cream. Refrigerate the pies.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“Vegetables are a must on a diet; I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”